Mugshot
Über Member
I don't think this could be further from the truth.
Let’s talk about BBC
- Thread starter Beebo
- Start date
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icowden
Legendary Member
farfromtheland
Regular AND Goofy
Perhaps hedging their bets then. Letting the opposition step in to cover over some flack and then taking over again when the storm abates is classic UK political practice.
slowmotion
Active Member
mjr
Active Member
I don't think it is. Many of the best bits of "the BBC product" either have equivalents (fip is arguably better than 6 Music, for example) or are actually their product as well (such as the drama coproductions I mentioned), or coproductions with US producers/broadcasters.
But the BBC is better than the broadcasters of the other similar-size European countries that have a lower or no licence fee: the BBC is better than Italy's RAI where politics messed them up, saw the licence fee cut to €100 inc VAT (leading to RAI's budget being about half of the BBC's) and there are proposals to abolish it (not sure how far gone it is); and better than Turkey, where TRT is funded by a tax on receivers plus some grants and adverts, but its total budget is I think about £150m at today's exchange rate (compared to £5bn for the BBC).
So these proposals look like they'll probably relegate the BBC to the second division. I suspect that is what Boris wants: in the past, his office has pressed the BBC to cancel shows that make fun of him, but they can't easily cancel the whole news service.
matticus
Guru
That sounds about right.
Meanwhile:
what is "fip"? And which countries with equivalent licence fee (or tax, or subsidy etc) are you saying matchup to the UK?
(Please don't say the US - we do import a lot of their stuff, but it's still the minority of quality TV aired here, and they consume 100 times as much utter rubbish!)
mjr
Active Member
fip is the Radio France all-music station. www.fip.fr
I am saying that France Televisions / Radio France (TV licence €139/year) and Germany's ARD / ZDF / DLF stations (TV licence €210/year) are in the same league as the UK (whether they match up, exceed or fall behind varies from year to year) and I suspect that is primarily a result of a similar population multiplied by a similar licence fee.
Broadcasters in those countries also put out a lot of dross but so do some in the UK. We probably should also remember that the BBC has easier options to collaborate with US broadcasters, making it look bigger/better.
Yes, it is an eye-opener when you look at the TV schedule for a US city (rather than the network schedules) and see how little good stuff is on that isn't sold overseas anyway, and how good shows are either put up against each other (if on different networks) or run nose-tail to try to hold onto audience (if on the same network). You'll find things to watch but probably not as much as you expect: https://nocable.org/tv-listings/zip/31401-savannah-ga/?t=primetime
The US's public service broadcasters are much smaller than one would expect for a country of over 300m, funded by about $500m from general taxation with less than a fifth of that going towards program production. Almost the same income comes from donations. It doesn't seem like a good approach, does it?
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OP
OP
Beebo
Veteran
Moodyman
Member
I must disagree with the often touted 'impartial'. The Beeb may be impartial when it comes to domestic politics or the right vs left issues, but when it comes to foreign affairs, the Auntie takes a government line.
Having said that, it's far better than it's US peers and many other state broadcasters (thinking of you RT).
matticus
Guru
In the dictionary, under
"Damning with faint praise"
OP
OP
Beebo
Veteran
Show me any other mainstream media that doesn’t.
They all have an agenda of sorts with international news.
I’d be more interested to hear which organisations are better than BBC.
Moodyman
Member
Not "better" as that's subjective, but I find Al Jazeera (English version) are a good alternative. They tend to delve into international affairs much better.
